A Lesson in Ink and Permanency

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

When I turned 18 I really thought I needed a tattoo, so I drew up a spiral design, took it to a tattoo parlor and lost my nerve. I went through with the tattoo but I didn't end up getting what I wanted, I just couldn't explain how I wanted my design to be positioned on my body and that I wanted the design to be bigger than what I had drawn. So what I ended up with was the black spiral in the center of the design below, such a little tattoo!

August of that same year I decided that I wanted to add on to my little black spiral after finding a female tattoo artist who I thought I'd be less intimidated by. I drew up another design, she and I discussed it and we got to tattooing. She suggested the red and I thought that sounded wonderful. She suggested the stipple as she was working and I agreed, thinking about how much I enjoy stipple in my drawings and in actual artwork. Unfortunately I was never satisfied with the stipple, the red or really much about the tattoo in general. I liked, and still like where it sits and that it came from a design I composed. The tattoo curves around my hip bone and I feel it accentuates my shape.

Being unsatisfied with my tattoo I sought to change what I didn't like, namely the stipple and the color. This February I sought a tattoo artist in the area and asked him to do a cover up on my old tattoo. He did just as I asked, covered up as much stipple as possible and covered the red with black. Now I have this, a darker, more sinister looking design which is still not me but better than what was there before.

The picture above is the coverup healing, the shading lightened up a great deal after the tattoo had healed completely, as can be seen in the photograph below. My tattoo artist had to shade heavily to cover the stipple which I think kind of took away the feminine look the the tattoo originally had.

I would like to add on to the tattoo and bring it farther up towards my ribs and around farther on my side and back, but in what way I will go about this remains to be seen. It will come to me eventually.

This tattoo, I admit, was a mistake and I will constantly be adding on and changing it until I am satisfied. Most of all I think this tattoo was a lesson well learned and is now a reminder of who I was as an 18 year old girl.